Jon Armstrong's life looked a lot different three years ago, with the Abbotsford man now having a steady job, a home, a vehicle, and a loving family 鈥� all of which seemed unthinkable when he was a homeless drug addict.
However, it's through the power of family and plenty of helping hands at the local Salvation Army that he has been able to completely transform his life in only a short period of time.
After going through a tumultuous childhood, Armstrong found himself turning toward the world of drugs, spending most of his adult life as a functioning drug addict.
"I hit bottom and ended up on the street in Port Coquitlam, where I met my girlfriend," Armstrong said.
"We spent five years [in Abbotsford] on the streets, living in a tent, because back then I was unfit for shelters."
Things were already tough enough for the couple, but then a whole new challenge arose when they found out that they were expecting a child.
"My girlfriend got pregnant, and that was honestly the scariest nine months of my entire life," Armstrong said. "I've been through a lot of crap in my life, but nothing as scary as being homeless, drug addicted, and expecting a new face in this world."
After a ton of soul-searching, the couple came to the conclusion that they wanted to keep the child and began immediately looking for local programs that might be able to help them.
Unfortunately, Armstrong explained that finding a suitable service was harder than they expected.
"There's nothing we could find that kept us together as a family, and we were hellbent that we were going to keep this child and do right by it."
However, they ended up getting the type of help that they needed through Abbotsford's Salvation Army, which they were already visiting regularly for lunches and other free services.
Armstrong specifically credited Barbara, Cindy, and program manager Al Breitkreuz with going out of their way to support him and his partner.
"They stepped up in a way that I could never see coming," he said.
"They literally hiked through the bush out to where we lived, brought us lunches, got my wife to her appointments and stuff, and found a recovery that we could actually go into. My wife went in ahead of me at eight months pregnant and got clean, so she was able to have the baby and not have the baby be addicted to drugs."
By the time his wife went into labour, both she and Armstrong had been sober for quite some time, thanks to the dedicated work of the Salvation Army staff, sparing their newborn son a future of unfortunate drug-related complications.
"All of the babies around us in there were addicted to fentanyl and born into agony," Armstrong explained.
With his newborn son, Slayder, cradled in his arms, Armstrong felt more hope than ever before and used that love for his growing family to fuel his commitment to remain sober.
He's now been drug-free for more than three years and has made massive leaps in the quality of life for both him and his family.
"Today, I have a home, I have security, and my son is well-fed and super smart."
Another change is that he's been regularly employed for more than a year now, with Armstrong finding a way to get a job while also helping countless other people who are still trapped in the cycle of drug use and homelessness.
"I work, now, where it all began," Armstrong said, explaining that he gets to work alongside the very people who helped pull him and his wife out from rock bottom all those years ago.
As an employee at the Salvation Army's Centre of Hope in Abbotsford, Armstrong is able to use his story and experiences to better assist those who come to the centre for help overcoming their issues.
"If I can show even one person that it's possible, then that's all I need," he said.
One of the biggest pieces of advice he's always eager to share is for those struggling with addiction to dig deep and find something that will motivate them to get healthy and stay healthy.
"For me, it was my son, but everybody's got to have something," Armstrong said. "You just have to find what's worth fighting for, whether it's your life, your family, or whatever it is, there's always something."
In the short time that he's worked there, he's already witnessed so much good being done for the less fortunate members of the community, and he's excited to continue helping as many people as he can at the Salvation Army.
"I had one of our clients come up to me on the street and thank me for everything we've done for him here," Armstrong said.
"He was one of those people who came in at rock bottom, in tears, lost, with no idea of what to do. After staying here for a while, he ended up getting a job, started working, got himself housed, and he's doing really good and still clean and sober."
Even now, Armstrong's life only continues to get better, with him and his family recently getting to celebrate Father's Day together, which Armstrong explained was marked by a pretty big milestone.
"I just got my licence back and a car last week, so for the first time ever, we took a trip to Fort Langley and spent the day out there."
Armstrong was also recently celebrated at the Salvation Army's third annual Hope in the Valley luncheon fundraiser in Abbotsford, where he was given the Hero for Hope award.
